Cross was a hugely popular game in Japan when it was released in November last year. Selling over 3 million copies, it helped to boost sales of the 3DS in the region and was something I saw pretty much everyone playing on the trains in Tokyo on its release.

While prior entries to the Monster Hunter series haven’t seen the same kind of success outside of Japan, more recent releases have begun to reverse this trend. As the last mainline entry on the 3DS, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, sold in excess of 1 million copies in the West.

Admittedly, the Japanese market still dominates sales for Monster Hunter games but it seems that with each release abroad the series has picked up more momentum. Doubly so as Capcom finally seem to be supporting the series properly in a global sense.

As such it appears that Capcom is fully behind Monster Hunter Generations and is keen to follow on from the success of the last game.

For those unfamiliar with Monster Hunter, they are a decade old series of action role-playing games with heavy emphasis on co-operative play. The focus of the games is based around taking down large monsters as a group and then using the resultant loot drops to craft armor and weapons to take on even bigger and badder monsters.

What has really helped these games in Japan and now abroad is that players have to work together to play the game fully.

While the original PS2 games did quite well, the games didn’t come into their own until the PSP and 3DS releases. This is because gamers in Japan play Monster Hunter on the move, often on the train, and can team up with nearby friends and strangers.

It’s this communal foundation coupled with solid action role-playing game mechanics that has made these games such a huge success in Japan and now abroad.

In recent years this communal appeal to the Monster Hunter games has definitely become more global. Especially as these games have included more online support. With any luck Monster Hunter Generations will build on this appeal further.